Extract-A-Fact will provide training modules detailing useful and creative ways to find, analyze, and visualize extractives data, as well as blog posts from PWYP-US and our partners as we dig deeper into oil, gas, and mining sector data to answer questions critical to communities impacted by natural resources.

Over the last 14 years Publish What You Pay coalitions around the world have advocated for a more transparent extractives sector by petitioning governments to require oil, gas, and mining companies to publish what they pay for the right to explore, develop, and extract natural resources. There are now mandatory disclosure laws in force in over 30 countries, and the first company reports were released in 2015. These reports can be analyzed alongside other data sources to get a more complete picture of a country’s natural resource sector.

“How much did Big Oil pay (or not pay) in taxes last year?”

The goal of Extract-A-Fact is to enable civil society organizations, citizens, journalists, government officials, academics, and other stakeholders to effectively analyze this data and put it to use to hold both companies and governments accountable for how natural resources are extracted and managed.

In the coming weeks and months, we will feature blogs and training modules that will help readers enhance their ability to work with and explore the data. But we also want to hear from you – Extract-A-Fact is intended to be a collaborative space for those interested in working with the growing set of extractives sector data. Please tell us what questions you would like to answer, or if you wish to collaborate on a training or story.

“How do I make a map to show mining revenues owed vs. revenues paid to my community?”

These are exciting times for the transparency movement, as the books are now being opened on the payments that oil, gas and mining companies make around the world. It is now time for us to translate this new data into accountability. We hope you will join us in this effort and that Extract-A-Fact will be a useful resource in your work.

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Help us spread the word – use #ExtractAFact to tell folks about this project!

​Jana Morgan is the Director of PWYP-US, follow her on Twitter @janalmorgan and @pwypusa